Jubilee lawmakers on Tuesday held a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta where they agreed to support his 8 per cent Value Added Tax proposal on fuel and petroleum products.
House Majority Leader Aden Duale confirmed that about 181 legislators attended the meeting where the President took them through the memorandum and they agreed to support his recommendations on the Finance Bill.
Duale stated: "In agreement, we discussed the memorandum of the president. In unison, we agreed that the five areas the president is returning we are going to support them."
He added: "What the president is returning are five items in the Finance Bill 2018. The Finance Bill deals with taxation measures."
The same was seconded other lawmakers including Nominated MP Maina Kamanda and Kanini Kega of Kieni.
Siding with Jubilee, NASA coalition held a presser where they confirmed that the Opposition would support President Kenyatta's proposal but with conditions.
The coalition's whip in the National Assembly, Junet Mohammed stated: "NASA offers its conditional support for the initiative to cut VAT from the original 16 to 8 percent."
He added: "We recognize that there was bilateral support for our attempt to remove VAT and the president was able to meet us halfway- lowering the VAT to 8%."
Junet maintained that the Opposition coalition would offer their support for a period of one year where they will also make 'certain key proposals' they want are considered.
"If the government makes genuine effort to implement those proposals, we will agree to sit down and extend our support for the VAT for another year," the Suna East MP stated.
The Opposition MPs warned that if their proposals will not be taken, NASA will remove a motion in the next budget to scrap VAT on fuel entirely.
